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Our and About (Sort of): The Bible by Howard Freedlander

December 5, 2023 by Howard Freedlander Leave a Comment

The Bible has taken on several colloquial narrative uses. As in “Bible-thumping” politicians or the “Bible Belt”, or as a personal basis of truth and conviction, exemplified by “I swear on a stack of bibles.”

In many cases, but not all, the George Washington Inaugural Bible is used in the secular swearing-in of our presidents. That’s an inescapable image in my mind. The hope, understandably, is that a beneficent and wise God will serve as a presence in domestic and international affairs.

God requires no special invitation to attend a presidential inauguration.

My father-in-law and daughter Kate

In deadly combat, the Bible serves another purpose. It is carried into battle, providing a spiritual weapon for soldiers thrust into the sporadic outburst of weaponry that spares no one.

A Bible-bearing American combatant may believe that the most sacred book provides a link to God and hence survival. It also represents a family connection if given as a gift.

Philosophers can argue whether God chooses sides based upon the motivation and purpose bolstering each opposing force in a war. I hark back to the epic film about George Patton, who felt no compunction to ask his chaplain to pray for clear weather and favorable conditions for his military units to advance and triumph, as they did in this cinematic instance during the Battle of the Bulge.

In Patton’s mind, the initially stunned chaplain enjoyed a direct connection to God. The weather cleared.

Patton delegated successfully. After all, the daring and cocky general was simply using the chain of command. And he believed that God was on the

side of goodness—and U.S. armor forces led by the charismatic and daring George Patton.

What motivated me to write about the Bible? My biblical familiarity is shallow, I must admit. Nonetheless, I well understand its singular importance as a book that overrides any compilation of must-read books.

Bibles often are passed down through generations of families. Its value is inestimable, withstanding the multiple moves of American citizens.

Occupying a special place in my wife’s heart is a Bible given to her late father in 1938 when he was 12 and confirmed by a beloved Presbyterian minister in Baltimore. The Bible bears a wonderfully warm inscription from the minister.

My father-in-law would read the Bible story about the birth of Christ every year on Christmas Eve, originally to his children and then his grandchildren. Frenetic activity would cease. A special, solemn overtone permeated the room.

As a newcomer to the family, I understood that the Bible reading by my wife’s dad was a necessary part of the holiday ritual.

Recently, I read about a Bible borne by a 29th Infantry Division soldier killed as part of the first wave of troops that stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. A fellow soldier had found the Bible, which had fallen out of the victim’s assault vest, and sent it with a letter to Raymond Hoback’s parents in Bedford, Va. They had given the Bible to Raymond in Christmas 1938. He and his brother Bedford were both killed during the deadly D-Day invasion, as were 18 others from the small town of Bedford.

The Bible had remained in the Hoback farmhouse, enshrined by the mother. Just recently, the Hoback brothers’ sister donated the Bible to the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. More young men were killed per capita in this southwest Virginia town than any other in the United States.

The Bible is more than a best-selling book. It symbolizes faith in God. It offers lessons learned in coping with life. It underscores humanity and kindness.

It can provide a link between someone in distress and God. And an attachment to the giver of the Bible and the grateful recipient. Ties that bind for a lifetime.

In the case of Raymond Hoback, engaging in the greatest amphibious invasion in military history, it offered hope amid the chaos and killing on bloody Omaha Beach. After his death, it offered solace, as well as an acute sense of loss to his bereaved family.

Raymond sought God. So did his family.

Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. After 44 years in Easton, Howard and his wife, Liz, moved in November 2020 to Annapolis, where they live with Toby, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who has no regal bearing, just a mellow, enticing disposition.

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Fog by Jamie Kirkpatrick

December 5, 2023 by Jamie Kirkpatrick 1 Comment

We’ve had a string of foggy days over here on the Eastern Shore. Sure, I could tell you that fog is simply an aerosol of small water droplets at or near ground level sufficiently dense enough to reduce horizontal visibility to less than one-thousand meters, or give you all the technical names for the various types of fog, but that would only reduce the phenomenon of fog to mere science. But I not going to do that because to me, fog is more art than science. Of all of Mother Nature’s wondrous weather wizardry, fog is a state of mind, a stupendous atmospheric work of art than has the power to transform the mundane into the marvelous. It’s a primed canvas worthy of a master, or in all fairness to Mother Nature, a mistress. It absorbs her brush strokes, removes all the extraneous material—even sound!—and leaves us spellbound by the simplicity of a black-and-white world.

If you had happened to be in Chestertown last weekend during our town’s annual celebration of all things Dickensian, you would have appreciated fog all the more. A boy riding one of those ridiculously tall Victorian bicycles suddenly appearing and then disappearing around a corner; the ghostly sound of a horse-drawn cart all but invisible as it goes clip-clopping down the street; the wail of bagpipes and the reverberations of big tenor and bass drums wafting through smoke-like wisps of fog; the aroma of seasoned logs blazing in fire pits, casting flickering shadows on passers-by, the women dressed in hoop skirts and bonnets, the men wearing top hats and morning coats; the tap of their walking sticks. Had there been no fog, it would have been transcendent enough, but with the fog, it is was…perfect! Whoever it was who imported and doled out all that pea-soup fog deserves a medal for dramatic effect!

Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with a string of sunny, warm days, or rain when we need it, or a silent midnight snowfall. But to me, fog trumps them all. It’s an ethereal phenomenon that allows us to believe that we really do exist in a make-believe world, one in which only a thin veil of fog separates us from whatever it is that lies on the other side of this reality. It is what allows us to glimpse dimly in the mirror today, what we shall see in splendor someday.

Going over the fog-shrouded Bay Bridge yesterday—yes, I know; sad—I had the feeling I was suspended somewhere between heaven and earth. I could see neither the water below, nor the super-structure of the bridge above. Even the roadway was all but invisible. It was an eerie, spooky feeling, but not an unpleasant one, maybe because my fellow travelers were all going a notch slower than they usually do. Later in the day, back in the hurly-burly of the big city, we had reason to go through an old and once-familiar neighborhood now smothered in dense fog. Streetlights made little halos that illuminated small pockets of light in the inky, dripping darkness. Once I knew these streets, but last night, I was a bit disoriented; I couldn’t find my bearings. Again, I wasn’t so much threatened by what Carl Sandburg described as “the fog (that) comes on little cat’s feet,” as I was enthralled by the phenomenon. I took my time and arrived home safe and sound.

So please don’t worry; I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives in Chestertown. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His new novel “This Salted Soil,” a new children’s book, “The Ballad of Poochie McVay,” and two collections of essays (“Musing Right Along” and “I’ll Be Right Back”), are available on Amazon. Jamie’s website is Musingjamie.net.

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Can Republicans Rebound In Maryland Elections? Maybe. By David Reel

December 4, 2023 by David Reel 2 Comments

Success in the political world can and often does start with candidates using winning local elections as a launchpad for future elections to a higher office.

Sometimes the future election is for a much higher office.

A case in point is Angela Alsobrooks who is running in the 2024 Democratic primary to succeed Ben Cardin in the U.S Senate. Alsobrooks is currently serving her second term as the Prince George’s County Executive. Prior to that, Alsobrooks was elected twice to serve as Prince George’s County States Attorney.

Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor

Maryland Governors who started at the local level include Martin O’Malley (Baltimore City Council and Mayor), William Donald Schaefer (Baltimore City Council and Mayor), Parris Glendening (Prince George’s County Council and County Executive), and Spiro Agnew (Baltimore County Executive). Prior to his spectacular fall from power, Agnew was also elected twice as Vice President

Just as winning local elections can serve as a launching pad for runs for higher office, losing local elections can derail once promising political careers.

This has especially been the case for three Republican candidates in relatively recent high profile local elections in Maryland. All three were once widely viewed as political “rising stars.”

A former Republican Anne Arundel County Executive, former Republican Howard County Executive, and a former Republican City of Annapolis Mayor lost their reelection races to Democratic challengers. Those challengers not only defeated the Republican incumbents, but each also went on to easy wins in their own bids for a second term. Following his loss in the Annapolis mayoral race, the Republican lost again in a race for a seat on the Anne Arundel County Council.

All these former “rising stars” are not likely viable candidates for any elective office in Maryland going forward.

Closer to home In Talbot County, the number of Republican candidates elected to the five-member County Council has dropped from five in 2014 to three in 2022.

Last month, Republicans did get some encouraging news from local election results in Wicomico County, Prince George’s County, and Harford County.

In Salisbury, (the largest city on the Eastern Shore and Wicomico County Seat), Republican Randy Taylor was elected mayor. Post-election, one media outlet noted Taylor is the first Republican ever to be elected as Mayor of Salisbury. Taylor’s winning campaign messages included a focus on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and public safety.

In Bowie, (the largest municipality in deep blue Prince George’s County and the fifth most populous municipality in the state), Councilwoman Roxy Ndebumadu was re-elected. Four years ago, Ndebumadu was the youngest woman ever elected to the Bowie City Council and has served as the only Republican official in Bowie. This year, Ndebumadu’s winning re-election messages included a focus on transparency, fiscal responsibility, public safety, restructuring city operations to create greater efficiencies, and engaging in strategic partnerships, rather than raising taxes to address police recruitment challenges.

In Bel Air, (the Harford County Seat), Republican candidates won all three town council seats. The Republican’s campaign messages focused on more government accountability, more attention to public input on issues, and more transparency.

All these recent Republican wins are relatively modest, but important going forward. They could help Maryland Republicans in rebuilding a severely depleted “bench” of potential candidates for future elections for higher offices in Maryland. That said, a GOP rebuilding effort still faces an uphill battle in a deep blue state.

Ken Ulman, a former Howard County Council member and County Executive and new Maryland Democratic Party Chair recently announced his goals. “Democrats need to have strategies for outreach and success in all 24 jurisdictions [in Maryland], even rural counties that Democrats may have written off in the past.”

A slightly modified call to action message is a good one for Republicans as well. Republicans need to have strategies for outreach and success in all 24 jurisdictions [in Maryland] even urban and suburban counties that Republicans may have written off in the past.

Who will do that best and who succeeds to what extent remains to be seen.

David Reel is a public affairs/public relations consultant who serves as a trusted advisor on strategy, advocacy, and media matters who lives in Easton.

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Delmarva Review: Tall Tales by King Grossman

December 2, 2023 by Delmarva Review Leave a Comment

Author’s Note: “By way of “Tall Tales” here’s to the old love of being there for my wife’s visit to the doctor’s office with other quite talkative partners-in-waiting, and the once new love of high school along with the grace of my girlfriend’s parent—who, admittedly, I liked to sit with on the dock while fishing perhaps more than I liked my girlfriend.”

Tall Tales

Bud and Joe talk of fishing,
While I hide behind my book

In the physician’s waiting room,
Where you can either bait a hook

And cast your line into
The lake of conversation,

Or stay lost in any story
But of her sickness.

I lower the book and tell
Of how I once snagged a bale

Of hay instead of the big
Bottom-feeding catfish

We all thought I had on my hook
Back in high school, dockside

Sitting cross-legged beside my
Girlfriend’s mom, Marylin Cotton,

A nighttime fisherwoman par excellence,
Who once caught us in bed.

⧫

King Grossman’s poems and short prose have appeared in Crack the Spine, The Round, Forge, Tiger’s Eye, Qwerty, Burningword, Ignatian, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Midwest Quarterly, The Borfski Review, and others. His novel, Letters To Alice, received several literary awards. He lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. with his wife Lisa, his dog Bogart, and a sun conure parrot named Sunny.

Delmarva Review publishes compelling new poetry, short stories, and nonfiction selected from thousands of fine writers annually. Located in St. Michaels, MD, the literary journal has featured the new writing of 550 authors worldwide during its 16-year history. About half are from the Chesapeake and Delmarva region. It is available in paperback and digital from major online booksellers and from specialty bookstores. Support comes from tax-deductible contributions and a grant from Talbot Arts with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: www.DelmarvaReview.org

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Chesapeake Lens: Sharp’s Island Light by John Rock

December 2, 2023 by Chesapeake Lens Leave a Comment

Originally built in 1882 on a caisson foundation, the current structure is a spark plug style light 3 miles off Tilghman Island. It tilts due to damage from an ice flow in 1977. “Sharp’s Island Light” by John Rock.

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Our Hero’s Journey by Angela Rieck

November 30, 2023 by Angela Rieck 1 Comment

Change is hard. That is what I hear. There are companies, consultants and teams devoted to helping people through change.

But I disagree that change is hard.

Changes that we want are quite easy. Marrying the person that you love, finding out you are pregnant with the baby that you always wanted, getting a job, getting accepted into college, receiving a financial windfall, a promotion, buying your dream home or car. Those are pretty easy changes.

But there are other changes that are more difficult, leaving an abusive relationship, changing careers, dealing with loss.

And the hardest place of all to be is at the beginning of this change, the threshold. The threshold is where we are confronted with the sad truth that we will not be able to live the lives that we wanted to live. Our only choice is to leap into an unknown abyss.

Yet, another way to see this threshold is as the beginning of our Hero’s Journey.

All writers know about the Hero’s Journey. It goes something like this. The protagonist’s world has been turned upside down and she must take a long, difficult journey to discover new life/wisdom/revelation. The Hero’s Journey follows the protagonist on her quest.

Joseph Campbell popularized the Hero’s Journey in his books about monomyths (one myth). Campbell posited that the vast majority of mythic and religious narratives regardless of culture or civilization are variations of the Hero’s Journey. His famous book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces described the similarities between all religions and myths. Namely, the hero faces challenges, gains insights, and returns home transformed. The Hero’s Journey leads them through great movements of separation, descent, ordeal, and return.

But it is the beginning of that journey that is most difficult. For those who have lost a partner, our Hero’s Journey is caused by a catastrophic separation. Death, loss, finances. These events are our lives’ earthquakes. What makes the leap off of the threshold particularly difficult is grief. Those in intense grief have difficulty making decisions, lose confidence, and question their abilities.

I had that experience. I had wonderful and successful life. Yet, after a series of catastrophic losses, I was unable to make the simplest decision. I couldn’t decide what I should wear. Each morning I would end up sitting in bed, crying with my dogs…unable to make such a simple choice. For those who have their planned lives stolen by death; we have to take that leap off the threshold without our wingman.

The threshold of change is the most painful place to be, even more difficult than the journey that follows. Yet people in bad situations remain frozen on their threshold. Lacking any blueprint, we remain on that painful threshold as the universe tries harder and harder to push us off.

Crossing the threshold requires us to leave the things that gave us comfort and security. That is when we commit to our Hero’s Journey.

Joseph Campbell described three phases of the Hero’s Journey: The first phase, crossing that threshold, is called Departure: The next key component of the Hero’s Journey is On the Road. In this phase we are tested, endure hardships, disappointments, fear, and failure. Each hero is dealing with grief’s pain, grief triggers and is learning to live without the partner.

In the final phase, the Return/Transformation the hero emerges and returns changed by the journey. The hero has experienced not just loss and the intensity of grief’s pain but also the knowledge that he can survive it. The hero returns, transformed by the experience and on a path to becoming a new person.

And that is the bottom line. All of us are changed by our Hero’s Journey. Hopefully for the better. Our Hero’s Journey teaches us acceptance, self-compassion, and integration back into life. We deeply understand the hubris of control. It has taught me to lean into the good things, to celebrate each event, as if it were the last one. Because all of the hero’s that have been on the journey understand the fragility of life.

While enduring our Hero’s Journey, we discover a powerful secret. We can survive grief’s pain.

So, rather than see ourselves as stuck, or lost, or making bad decisions; I prefer to see ourselves as at the beginning of our own Hero’s Journey. And those of us who have been on this journey remain to assure others that they will make it, too.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

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2025, 2026, 2027, 2028? By Al Sikes

November 30, 2023 by Al Sikes 1 Comment

What is it about reality? Have many of us have lost our capacity to discern fact from fiction? Or, does right or wrong follow an indelible path imprinted by our ethnicity or political party or some loudmouth performative liar? Or some wayward professor whose education has seldom ventured beyond polemicists portrayed as intellectuals?

I am gobsmacked by those who can find anything redeeming about Hamas. Or Russia under Putin. Or the Ayatollah’s Iran. Evil exists. And for geopolitical and economic reasons, evil can find allies among arms sellers, a variety of terrorist groups and ultimate pragmatists like Turkey’s Recep Erdogan or Hungary’s Victor Orban. Or Xi’s China. Maybe they consider war to be ugly, but business is business.

Most alarming, if you believe in the fertile soil of freedom and opportunity, can America actually be led by someone who says they just want America to be left alone? I wonder what happens when you have chosen to be left alone and then find yourself in need.

Can you say that if America closets itself between the Atlantic and Pacific we can command enough strength to live peacefully and prosperously? If you see isolation as a benign condition, then you skipped History 101. Then there is 21st Century technology which can convert what appears to be local threats into international threats to humanity.

We live in the 21st Century. While at its most basic it is a number; it’s also a condition of opportunity and threat. The time in which we now live makes isolation a daft dream. Integrated production is international. Satellites track our movements. Networks store what we do and say. Propaganda is now ubiquitous, seeping into everything. Armaments, well, evil intent underwrites their propagation. North Korea and Iran’s export goods—weapons.

Perhaps retreat from this maelstrom on an individual level is possible, but collectively it is not. A principled and coherent foundation is a must and enlightened leadership is not optional. A schizophrenic national posture will steadily erode our strength.

Americans have a rich inheritance. We are mostly a free people, served by a prosperous economy on a foundation articulated by farsighted founders and secured by freedom—loving patriots. But then each generation has to decide and act to protect our legacy.

Should we be worried? Has modernity left too much behind? Are there departures from traditions that undermine us? I like to believe that millions are looking for something else, a fabric of belief that will result in revitalization of our founding principles.

In a democracy revitalization is conditioned on citizens—animate not inanimate ones. But maybe it’s too early to reverse the slide because incumbents don’t give up power and its benefits without a fight. And maybe America’s 21st Century leadership is at least five years away. It seems so, as millions look for new leadership while tens of millions seem content with what one writer calls “an unpopularity contest.” Yes, our dominant political parties seem insistent on replaying yesterday’s political insults—2016’s hits.

Democrats dismiss Donald Trump as a soon to be convicted criminal. Republicans dismiss Joe Biden as a daft oldster. In my view they are both showing alarming signs of age’s unyielding nature. Unsteadiness would be my layman’s description. This view seems to be baked into Biden’s poll numbers, but I would suggest that Trump should not get a pass. He has recently said he can settle the Ukraine war in 24 hours. Really?

We have one President at a time. And even though breathless commentators make it seem like the next Presidential race is just months away, President Biden has over 13 months remaining in office. The question to be answered in November, 2024, is who is ready to provide America with gifted leadership in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028. Think about those cascading twelve month increments. Is there somebody who can unite us or at least unite a majority? Is there somebody who can understand the opportunities and threats of Artificial Intelligence because by 2029 most of the patterns and rules will have been written? Is there somebody who can lead America toward fiscal sanity? In short, is there somebody who can lead?

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.

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Time is Running Out for Sane Republicans to Rescue Their Party by J.E. Dean

November 29, 2023 by J.E. Dean 6 Comments

Less than a year from now, the United States may be in the grip of another Trump-generated Constitutional crisis. The presidential election will be over—at least for those of us who believe in the Constitution and are ready to accept the outcome of the election even if our preferred candidate loses.

Unfortunately, the probability of another Constitutional crisis—another insurrection—is increasing. Donald Trump is again running for president and is unlikely to win without cheating. Or so one can hope.

Why does Trump remain at the center of the American political stage? Despite Trump’s legal, financial, and psychological problems, many Republicans still prefer him as their standard bearer over anyone else. How a foul-mouthed candidate who led Republicans to a mid-term election debacle last year, who has been described as a rapist by a New York Judge, and is facing 41 felony counts, remains popular defies understanding. One must ask, is Trump’s nomination and possible election to another term as president inevitable?

Let’s hope not. But it will take more than hope to get the defeated election denier off the political stage. If we know nothing else about Trump, it is that he will not easily give up his dream of returning to power. To prevent Trump’s return to the White House, it will take a village. That village would be composed of people willing to try to persuade Trump supporters to walk away from their candidate. Put another way, the effort is getting Trump supporters to think about what values they are supporting in continuing to choose Trump over the alternatives.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I jotted down a list of five qualities needed in a successful American president. At the top of the list is allegiance to the Constitution. The other qualities are honesty, humility, sanity, and commitment. Trump has none of these qualities. The effort to persuade Trump supporters to abandon Trump requires, I think, getting them to reassess their support for Trump through this or a similar analysis.

Trump regularly professes his love for America. Have you seen the picture of him hugging an American flag at a campaign rally? But that love does not include the Constitution. In 2022 he wrote, “A Massive [Election] Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” The Constitution includes the Bill of Rights guaranteeing free speech, freedom of religion and a number of other rights.

Trump’s practice of honesty is reflected by its absence. The Washington Post and other newspapers have called him out for telling more than 10,000 lies. More importantly, former Trump administration officials now acknowledge that Trump knew he had lost the 2020 election and continued to claim otherwise. Is better proof of Trump’s dishonesty possible?

What will it take to convince Republican voters who still believe Trump won the 2020 election that he did not? If Trump knew he lost and knew that the only way to retain power was to set aside the Constitution, why do so many Republicans continue to believe the lies?

And what about humility? Trump has none. But Trump supporters seem to admire that. Trump, a self-described genius, believed he was so smart that he did not need to listen to national security briefings, consult with subject matter experts, or even think about decisions before he made them. The result was four years of “policymaking by gut instinct” that alienated allies, created worries of wars with North Korea and others, resulting in a constant state of chaos.

Interested in a humble president? Try Joe Biden. Biden understands that the job of president is that of leader of a team. In contrast to Trump, Biden’s cabinet and key advisors are experts in their fields, have been free of scandal, and have guided Biden administration policies.

When I listen to Trump campaign rallies, I often turn them off when they descend into insane rantings. When Trump condemns special counsel Jack Smith as “deranged,” promises to put him and various judges and other prosecutors in inpatient psychiatric care, he tells us “I am your retribution” and “I am your justice.” That is insanity. What will it take to get Trumpers to see these speeches as pathological?

Finally, consider what I call commitment. In 2016, when Trump was declared the winner of the presidential election, he saw himself as winning a prize. He won four years of the right to fly around in a 747, to be on TV constantly, and to enjoy all the perks of the office. He did not see himself as accepting an exceptionally demanding job.

The vision of a president who spent mornings watching cable news, regularly played golf throughout his presidency, and devoted hours to Twitter and Facebook (before being banned), is deeply troubling. We need a president who accepts the responsibilities of the presidency. Trump is not that guy.

I am starting to question whether Trump voters will wake up before it is too late for his party to choose someone else to lead their ticket. Anyone else would be an improvement.

I salute those in the Republican party who are calling out Trump and suggesting he drop out of the race. I also salute journalists and media who are stepping up efforts to persuade Trumpers that their leader is a threat to democracy and is not their friend.

Will these efforts work? I retain hope that a combination of things will finally rid us of Trump. The GOP still has time to find an alternative candidate, but it will take a village, including many of us who are not Republicans and do not plan to vote for the party’s candidate to make that happen.

Be part of that village. If you see something (a dangerous candidate who has already admitted to rejecting democracy), do something.

J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, and other subjects.

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New Hospital Dreams and Long ER Wait Time Nightmares by Hugh Panero

November 29, 2023 by Hugh Panero Leave a Comment

The proposed $350 million Easton-based UM Shore Regional Medical Center has generated a lot of excitement. The new state-of-the-art facility will encompass 325,000 square feet on six floors featuring 147 beds,122 acute inpatient and 25 observation beds, emergency, surgery, labor and delivery, and support services. It will be located near the intersection of Rt 50 and Longwoods Road only four miles north of the existing hospital. The total projected cost is $550 million.

Before leaving office, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan pledged a $100 million contribution from the state toward the project. A pledge is excellent but an empty gesture until it becomes part of the State budget. Hogan is gone, leaving that work to Governor Moore, a big supporter of rural healthcare and the Eastern Shore. He and the legislature approved only $10 million for fiscal year 2024 and promised $20 million in 2025. So, a lot of heavy political lifting is still needed to secure all $100 million, especially in light of looming state deficits projected to hit $1 billion by 2028 unless hard choices are made.

The new Medical Center represents the most significant piece of the University of Maryland Medical Systems (UMMS) hub and spoke strategy to create an integrated Mid Shore regional rural healthcare delivery system encompassing Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot counties, representing about 175,000 people. The last hurdle is getting the “Certificate of Need” (CON) final regulatory approval from the Maryland Healthcare Commission, which is expected very soon. The hope is the new facility will open in 2028.

UMMS Eastern Shore expansion began over a decade ago. In 2006, UMMS merged with Shore Health Systems, which operated Memorial Hospital in Easton and Dorchester General in Cambridge. In 2008, UMMS merged with Chester River Health Systems, which operated Chestertown Hospital. In 2013, UMMS rolled it all up, forming UM Shore Regional Health. The rebranded UM Shore Regional Health includes UM Shore Medical Center in Easton, a 146-bed acute care facility providing in and outpatient service; UM Shore Medical Center in Cambridge, a free-standing medical facility that provides emergency services and various outpatient services; UM Shore Medical at Chestertown, a rural hospital facility that has flexible capacity for 25 inpatients plus outpatient services to Kent & Queen Anne counties; and UM Shore Emergency Center at Queenstown, a free-standing emergency center. UMMS also operates urgent care sites, acquired from Choice One and rebranded UM Urgent Care, in Denton, Kent Island, and Easton.

As we await the final regulatory approval for a Medical Center that will not open until 2028, it is necessary to focus on the hospital’s current operating performance and significant challenges, which include long ER wait times and nursing shortages, which must be improved immediately.

Emergency Room Wait Time. We are generally free to choose where we want to be treated and from what doctors, except when we have a medical emergency that requires immediate attention or when we call 911. Whether you cut yourself cooking, your child fell and broke his leg, or you are experiencing chest pains, an ER visit is a traumatic moment. If you live in Easton, the ambulance takes you to the UM Shore Medical Center ER. This makes people nervous, especially after Maryland Matters reported that Maryland has the longest emergency room “wait times” in the US, according to the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission. And UM Shore Medical Center had the longest emergency room wait time in the State! Clocking in with a median wait time of 1,400 minutes, just under 24 hours, from when patients arrived at the facility to when they were admitted.

We all sensed a problem based on anecdotal reports and personal experience, but having it confirmed by empirical data was shocking. The New Facility with more beds and better equipment will help improve ER performance, but what do you do right now? Hospital management regularly meets with elected officials. However, they need better public outreach (i.e., forums, opinion piece, public meetings) explaining how they will improve out of control wait times and when they expect to approach national medians (under five hours, according to U.S. News). Our elected officials, from the Governor down to the Mayor of Easton, should be asking tough questions.

Improve Nursing Staffing, Reduce Attrition & Improve the Nurse-to-Bed Ratio. Hospitals are struggling with a nursing shortage of 450,000 nurses nationwide and a shortage of doctors estimated to be 120,000. It’s a huge problem, especially for rural hospitals. How does Shore Regional Medical Center’s current performance regarding nurse staffing compare with other comparable hospitals? What is management doing to attract and retain talented nursing staff in this competitive market? Is the issue compensation, more flexible work hours, or both? Nursing shortages affect many aspects of care, including ER wait time. Earlier this year, an EMT told me during a midnight 911 visit to my home that if they took my wife to the ER, it would be many hours before she would get a bed, and even that was not guaranteed. Not because a bed was unavailable but because there were not enough nurses to cover the beds. Management has emphasized that the new UM Shore Medical Center will help attract and retain talent.

Improve Hospital Culture. Elizabeth H. Bradley, President of Vassar College, author, and former Faculty Director of Yale University’s Health Leadership Institute, speaking about organizational culture, once said, “It’s how people communicate, the level of support, and the organizational culture that trump any single intervention of any single strategy that hospitals frequently adopt.” I am curious how Shore employees rate their hospital as a workplace and management’s performance. Internal employee engagement (satisfaction) surveys are standard, as are 360-degree evaluations that ask employees to rate managers, including the President & CEO. Comments about what it is like to work at UM Shore Medical Center on job websites like Glassdoor and Indeed are not great. I know several experienced nurses who have worked at the hospital for decades. They say nurses are burnt out, some looking to retire, and many unhappy with management after several brutal and stressful years dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and long hours due to nursing shortages and other factors.

I hope members of the UMMS and UM Shore Health boards aggressively monitor and demand improvement in these areas long before the new hospital opens. More stringent patient satisfaction and operating metrics focused on these issues should be included in management’s annual performance review and bonus awards, including for President & Chief Executive Officer Ken Kozel.

Maryland is blessed with great hospitals. Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center appears on Newsweek’s 2024 list of best in-state hospitals at number (4), along with (1) John Hopkins Hospital, (2) John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, (3) University of Maryland Medical Center, (5) Saint Joseph Medical Center, and (6) MedStar Union Memorial. Anne Arundel is currently the best hospital within 50 miles of Easton and a UMMS competitor located right over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Luminis Health is a non-profit health system formed in 2019 when Anne Arundel Medical Center acquired Doctors Community Medical Center. Luminis serves Anne Arundel, Prince George’s Counties, and parts of the Eastern Shore. I am hopeful UM Shore Medical Center will appear on this list soon.

Hospitals are sensitive to ratings from well-known hospital rating organizations and publicize good ratings and downplay bad ones. For 2022, The Leapfrog Group, a national non-profit healthcare rating organization, gave an “A” grade rating (A-F) for overall hospital safety to UM Shore Medical Center and Luminis Anne Arundel Medical Center. Medicare.gov also provides a “Star Rating,” representing overall “Hospital” and “Patient” performance. Shore did not do as well.

Medicare.gov Overall Hospital Star Rating*

UM Shore Medical Center 3 out of 5 stars

Luminis Anne Arundel Medical Center 4 out of 5 stars

* Rating represents an overall performance across different areas of quality, such as treating heart attacks and pneumonia, readmissions, and rates of safety of care.

Medicare.gov Patient Star Rating*

Um Shore Medical Center 2 out of 5 Stars

Luminis Anne Arundel Medical Center 4 out of 5 Stars

*Recently discharged patients were asked about doctor and nurse communications, how responsive hospital staff was to their needs, and the cleanliness and quietness of the hospital environment.

Looking forward, UMMS must still raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the Medical Center. Potential donors will soon be asked to pay big bucks as part of an upcoming capital campaign. They will ask the same performance questions I have, and management must have the answers. Residents should not worry when taken to the ER or wait five years for the new Medical Center to have an impact.

Replacing our aging hospital with the new Medical Center will not magically solve every operating problem. Just like trading in your aging Honda Civic for an expensive Tesla does not magically make you a better driver. Transformational change is always challenging, and management must rise to the occasion. We all are rooting for them to succeed.

Hugh Panero, a tech & media entrepreneur, was the founder & former CEO of XM Satellite Radio. He has worked with leading tech venture capital firms and was an adjunct media professor at George Washington University. He writes about Tech and Media for the Spy.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Out and About (Sort of): Not Multiple Choice by Howard Freedlander

November 28, 2023 by Howard Freedlander Leave a Comment

Pundits have bemoaned the state of American democracy, as have academics and citizens disappointed in our political leaders. Doom and gloom are prevalent throughout our sadly disruptive and disparate society.

Despite my innate optimism, I too feel depressed (not clinically) by our instability. Covid was an invasive disease. We lived differently. Now we live dislodged from any sense of compromise and comity.

It seems like an upsetting dream that recurs. Relief is a distant reality. Sleep aids are ineffective. Strong feelings prompt arguments. The normal give-and-take is fraught. Friendships become frayed.

Allow me to offer my concept of democracy, as illustrated by a list of phrases that I believe requires no embellishment and only slight commentary. Were I offering this litany as a test, I would posit that it leaves no room for multiple choice; instead, it is incontrovertible (in my humble opinion).

Compromise–foreign concept these days, sadly so

Selfless public service–rare, too, in favor of media attention

Courage–in short supply as public officials fear the extremes of their parties.

Respect, regardless of party–severely diminished

Ethical behavior–glue that binds a working democracy

Media not the enemy–vital, though pesky, for accountability on every level of government

Public engagement–absolutely mandatory for positive policy

Willingness to admit error–contrary to current political ethos

Reduced dependence on money–far too dominant now

Grace under pressure–victory can be elusive

Constitutional knowledge–critical to governing and public service

Honest communication–essential for public support, without ineffective spin

Competent leadership–owed to constituents on consistent basis

Good people in the mix–unworkable without them

Tolerance–vital element of communal cohesion

Civility—aides and abets productive dialogue, poisonous otherwise

Trust in government—woefully lacking, leading to cynicism

Justice—must be fair or fail to induce confidence

I will stop here. I invite readers to share their thoughts.

Our American democracy is regretfully fragile in the second decade of the 21st century. Finding a middle ground is an endangered process. Politicians feel compelled to cater to the extreme wings of their parties. Little gets accomplished.

Courage to place the country first is secondary to being re-elected. Statesmanship is in short supply. Chaos permeates our federal legislature.

My comments almost seem trite. Read, listen and study politics on the local, state and federal levels, and conclusions are obvious: the common good is sacrificed time and time again to political expediency. Politics of the middle, moderate persuasion represents a thin slice of our political landscape.

Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father and the first secretary of the treasury, said, “Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate government.” It is foolhardy to dispute this keen observation.

I remain strangely hopeful. A revival of conscience-heavy leadership is hiding in the trenches, ready to emerge and seek a path of selfless public service. Do I inhabit a dream world? Perhaps.

If my envisioning is naively ridiculous, then what is our future as a thriving democracy? It will be one rooted in darkness. It will be morally bankrupt. We the people will be irrelevant.

With some effort, we can do better. Because we must.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

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